


X's and Uh-Ohs

by ClagJanetSMK



Series: A Pandemic Alphabet [24]
Category: Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Genre: 2020 Lockdown Stories, Even though it's 2021 now, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Romance, Secret Marriage, X is for X
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 20:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30111738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClagJanetSMK/pseuds/ClagJanetSMK
Summary: Amanda slips up with some paperwork and she and Lee need to figure out to cover it up.
Relationships: Amanda King/Lee Stetson
Series: A Pandemic Alphabet [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031118





	X's and Uh-Ohs

**Author's Note:**

> The X story in my pandemic alphabet; the end is in sight!

Lee glanced up as the door to the Q Bureau opened, smiling when he saw it was Amanda.

"Hey, how was class?" he asked.

Amanda shot him a look, dropped her class files on her desk then sat down heavily without a word. Lee's smile faltered as she crossed her arms on top of the paperwork and then dropped her head onto them.

"Amanda, honey, what's wrong?" he asked, getting up from his chair and coming to crouch beside her. "It can't be that bad."

"Yes, it can," came the muffled response.

"What happened? Did you get a bad mark on your ciphers homework or something? You know Murphy's a hard marker – he doesn't believe anyone should ever get anything above a C."

"No - not a C," Amanda responded. She lifted her head just enough to pull out the file folder she'd put down and handed it to Lee, before dropping her head again.

"Well, I know you didn't get an F - I reviewed that assignment for you and it was-" He glanced at the cover. "This says you got an A? Why are you upset?" When all he got was a quiet moaning response, he flipped open the file, then blenched. "This isn't your ciphers homework."

"I know."

"This is the anniversary card I gave you."

"I know," she responded a little more shrilly.

Lee's expression turned to one of dawning horror. "The anniversary card I wrote in. Quite explicitly."

"I know!" Amanda wailed, lifting her head. "I know that! Of course, I know that! Why do you think I'm upset?"

"But how…? Why…? How did this end up with Murphy?"

"You left in my desk drawer yesterday and I was reading it and then Francine came in and I thought I'd shoved it under some paperwork, but it turns out I shoved it right into my homework file!"

Lee gave a small smile. "Aren't you at least happy it got you an A?"

"No!" Amanda snatched the card out of his hand and whacked him in the chest with it. "He thought it was in code and I got an A because he couldn't break it and now he wants me to show him what it really means!"

"It means I really, really love you," said Lee, his lips twitching despite himself.

"I can't tell him that!" she exclaimed. "And now I have to come up with some cockamamie fake cipher so that this looks like a coded message and not-"

"An invitation to a seduction?"

"It's not funny!" she moaned.

"It kind of is," Lee said, capturing her hand in his. He took the card and laid it on the desk, then turned back to drop a kiss on her fingers. "And don't worry, between the two of us, we can-"

His sentence went unfinished as there was a quick rap on the door followed almost immediately by Billy turning the door handle and walking in.

"Hi Billy," said Lee, springing upright. "What can we do for you?"

"You have much better coffee up here," said Billy with a genial smile as he headed for the machine in the far corner of the office. Lee and Amanda watched him silently as he rummaged around in the fridge for some cream, then added two heaping spoonfuls of sugar to his cup. He turned, still stirring and then settled down onto the small sofa with a sigh of relaxation. Seeing the two of them still looking at him, he waved the spoon gently in the air. "Don't mind me," he said. "Just carry on with what you were doing when I got here."

Amanda and Lee exchanged a look. "Well, we weren't doing anything in particular, Sir," said Amanda. "Just, uh, discussing what's on our schedule this week, and uh…" she looked down at the card "and some paperwork we need to deal with."

"Really?" said Billy. "I though the two of you would be in full damage control after that Ciphers homework incident." When two jaws dropped in simultaneous astonishment, he let out a belly laugh. "You didn't think I'd hear about that? Amanda, I'm your supervising manager."

"No, I didn't… I mean, yes, of course I know you're my supervisor, Sir, I just didn't think Mr. Murphy would…" she stopped, her gaze sharpening as Billy's smile grew wider.

"What do you mean 'incident'?" asked Lee, voice laden with suspicion. "She got an A on her assignment."

Billy nodded, clearly enjoying himself. "She sure did. I told Murphy to bump her up from the B he wanted to give her."

"I don't understand," said Amanda. She glanced over at Lee, but he was looking just as confused and wary as she felt. "Why would you do that?"

"Murphy asked me that too." Billy leaned forward to the table in front of him where a box of Amanda's homemade cookies sat open and helped himself before settling back against the sofa cushions. His laugh wheezed out again when he looked back at the confused couple. "And I told him that if he couldn't see a message that was in plain sight right in front of his eyes, he needed to give you a better grade."

"In plain sight?" echoed Amanda.

"What message?" said Lee at the same time.

Billy rolled his eyes. "I know that you two think you've been a giant secret all this time, but do you seriously think the people who know you best don't know about you? Lee, you've spent the last two Christmases at Amanda's house, you have a regular dinner date at Emilio's that you never gave up, and if I can't find one of you at home, I look at the other one's! You're together every hour of the day as near as I can tell – how can you possibly think I didn't read that card right?" He shook his head with another smile. "But Murphy showed up to ask me if I could make head or tail of it and he was so busy looking for something hidden, he didn't even look at what it actually said."

"So, you told him about us?" Amanda asked quietly.

Billy made an impatient noise. "Of course, I didn't. If he's too dense to be paying attention to what's going on under his nose, he doesn't deserve to be told. I just said that the there's probably some kind of partner shorthand that's just between the two of you and he should try and get you to explain it to him. I couldn't resist," he went on, chuckling at the look of dismay on Amanda's face. "But you have the weekend to come up with something believable. Maybe you can convince him all the X's and O's at the end are the code."

Lee picked up the card and stared at it, then looked at Billy. "So you've known we were married this whole time?"

Billy's eyes bugged out and he inhaled sharply, then started to cough as a cookie crumb lodged in his throat. Amanda jumped up and raced to pour him a glass of water as he worked to get his lungs working again.

"Married?" he finally managed to gasp out. "You're _married_?"

Lee looked stricken as he realized he'd just blurted out their secret for no reason. "You mean you didn't know?"

"Do I look like I knew?" Billy thundered. He reached for the glass of water again and gulped down another few mouthfuls.

"Well, you said it was all here in plain sight," said Lee. "On this anniversary card."

Billy flopped back against the sofa and mopped his brow with a handkerchief he'd pulled out. He snapped his fingers in a gesture clearly meant for Lee to hand him back the card, which he did. Billy stared at it for a moment, then flipped it open, and quickly closed it again. "For God's sake – I teased Murphy about not seeing the obvious in what you wrote and I never looked at the card itself." A huge grin split his face and he jumped up to walk over to hug Amanda and held out his hand to Lee to shake. "I guess belated congratulations are in order."

"You're not angry?" asked Amanda, looking relieved.

"I'm disappointed I wasn't there," he admitted. "But I'd be a damn fool to have encouraged you two to get together all this time and then be angry when I find out you have." He paused as a thought struck him, then his eyes narrowed. "Although I guess I have been a damn fool for a while, dropping hints this last few months if you're already celebrating anniversaries." He looked at the card. "At least please tell me it's your first one."

"Oh yes, Sir!" Amanda exclaimed. "Just the first!"

"Of many," Lee added with a smile as he took her hand.

Billy shook his head, obviously still rocked by the revelation. "Now that I do know you're married, you're going to have to do some retroactive paperwork," he said. "I can keep you out of trouble for keeping it secret, I think, but you need to have your financials in place in this business." He cocked a glance at Amanda. "Does your family know?"

"No, Sir," she shook her head with a regretful expression.

"Well, you should get on with that – before one of them finds out by accident like I did," he responded sternly.

"Yes Sir."

Billy looked down at the card in his hand again, then chuckled as he handed it to Lee, then headed for the door. He paused in the doorway, grinning back at his favorite team. "Anniversary card! Now I'm going to have to go tell Murphy to give you an A+!"


End file.
